posted on 03 May 2020

Maigret in Society by Georges Simenon

Sometimes it is very pleasant to escape to a book set in calmer times than we are living through at the moment – although that may seem a rather odd way to describe the sombre Paris setting of a novel with a murder mystery as its central theme. This one was first published in the early 1960s as one of a series of hugely popular novels by Georges Simenon and is a typical example of how this gentle, rather staid detective patiently solves a crime.

It took me a little while to settle into the very slow pace of the story, but once I had realised that not a lot was going to be revealed quickly, and not much drama was likely beyond the initial murder, I felt very comfortable.  Maigret is asked to discreetly investigate the shooting of a 78 year old former French Ambassador who has worked in Rome, Washington and London. He soon learns that this man has had an unconventional platonic love affair with Princess de V- which everyone has known about and accepted for over fifty years. The Ambassador lived alone in a grand apartment and had always been looked after by a devoted but taciturn housekeeper, who is very uncooperative with the police investigation. There are minimal clues available and there seems to be no obvious personal or political motive to the murder. Despite talking extensively to all the man’s friends, acquaintances and family, Maigret makes little progress with identifying the person who shot the victim and so becomes increasingly frustrated.

I realise that I am not making the plot sound very interesting, so why did I carry on reading? The charm of this and other Maigret novels lies in the carefully considered writing that allows the reader to imagine exactly how the detective is mulling over the problems as he puffs away on his beloved pipe. He won’t be rushed but he likes to turn over his ideas, sometimes with the help of sensible Mrs Maigret as a sounding board. He is a believable three dimensional, intelligent character, rather like Kurt Wallander, the Swedish detective created by Henning Mankell  (another one of my favourite authors). These two fictional men both can get rather tetchy about people who don’t co- operate or who believe themselves to be above the law.  I can imagine them working together on a puzzling case very effectively, showing a grudging admiration for one another. Nevertheless, Maigret tends to be more deferential than Wallander, perhaps because of living in a less progressive society. He is annoyed with himself at being initially intimidated by the formal manners and lifestyle of the elite class that are concerned with this case. He is also baffled at the unbending loyalty of the housekeeper which turns out to be at the heart of the mystery. 

His character is a welcome relief from the kind of detective that we are more used to meeting in contemporary crime fiction. This is too often a maverick man with a complex love life, who regularly dices with death. Many of these stereotypes seem to be self- obsessed, miserable, reckless and often very tactless, despite being able to solve complex conundrums. Chief Inspector Maigret on the other hand is definitely the kind of sensitive detective that I would be happy to lead an investigation into a murder affecting people that I care about.

 I look forward to reading about many more of his low key adventures.

Karen Argent

April 2020